My experience of Business in Practice

Our Business with Marketing student Ti-Kai shares his experience taking part in his Business in Practice module.

The main reason I chose Business in Practice (BIP) over the dissertation at the end of Term one was that I thought the BIP simulation sounded particularly interesting. After two weeks of BIP simulations, my experience confirmed what I had initially thought, so I'm glad I made this decision! Here’s why…

 

Competition

The element of competition was the first thing I found attractive. The BIP simulation was like an authentic business competition where a group of eight WBS postgraduates formed a team of five departments (Finance, Marketing, Innovation, Human Resources and Operations) as the directors and deputy directors of a virtual automotive company. Each day of the BIP simulation, the system ranked the performance of each group, measured through ‘value added’. Eventually, module leaders awarded the top teams with the highest value-added and departments with the highest specific KPI in each function.

 

Teamwork

The element of teamwork was the second thing I found attractive. Although it was a great challenge for us to achieve efficient collaboration in a tight schedule, we had to learn to embrace other ideas, resolve conflicts, and share leadership to co-lead the group towards the goal. For example, the Marketing Director did marketing research to present a proposal for new model development to the Innovation Director, who later would ask Finance Director for funding after discussion. Therefore, like a real firm, the various departments are interlinked, and so teamwork between members was highly essential and frequent, giving us an experience that can’t be replicated in written work.

 

Application of knowledge and theories

Thirdly, the BIP simulation allowed me to apply the knowledge and theories learned from my postgraduate modules to a virtual business simulation. It was an excellent opportunity to learn how to put my learning into practice. As a student of MSc Business with Marketing, I was the Marketing Director of the virtual automotive company during the BIP simulation, so I was responsible for the company's marketing strategy and market analysis, including implementing product pricing, controlling marketing expenses, and conducting research to competitors. I received feedback from the simulation through each round of decision-making and execution. These results were both good and bad, which encouraged me to think more thoroughly before making the next decision. Although the simulation was not the real world of business, I was still motivated to improve with each round.

 

Although our team didn't win any titles, I was proud to see how hard all the members worked and how steadily the company's performance improved. Like Andrew Carnegie said: “Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organisational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.” The chemistry that resulted from our teamwork exceeded my initial expectations and made the whole process astounding and memorable.

 

Discover more about the student experience at WBS on our Postgraduate blog.